Activities of Tibor SZANYI related to 2017/0063(COD)
Plenary speeches (2)
Empowering competition authorities and ensuring the proper functioning of the internal market (A8-0057/2018 - Andreas Schwab) HU
Empowering competition authorities and ensuring the proper functioning of the internal market (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council to empower the competition authorities of the Member States to be more effective enforcers and to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market PDF (820 KB) DOC (122 KB)
Amendments (24)
Amendment 53 #
Draft legislative resolution
Citation 5 a (new)
Citation 5 a (new)
– having regard to the report of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament (A8- 0001/2017) on the annual report on EU competition policy and especially of the points 151-159 of the mentioned report,
Amendment 57 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 2 a (new)
Recital 2 a (new)
(2a) Member States shall ensure that national competition authorities submit publicly available periodic reports on their activities to a governmental or parliamentary body. Member States shall ensure that such reports include information about the appointments and dismissals of members of the decision making body, the amount of resources that were allocated in the relevant year and any changes in this amount compared to previous years.
Amendment 64 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 7
Recital 7
(7) In order to ensure a truly common competition enforcement area in Europe that provides a more even level playing field for undertakings operating in the internal market and reduces unequal conditions for consumers there is a need to put in place minimum guarantees of independence and, adequate financial, human and technological resources and core enforcement and fining powers when applying Articles 101 and 102 TFEU and national competition law provisions in parallel to Articles 101 and 102 TFEU so that NCAs can be fully effective.
Amendment 69 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 14
Recital 14
(14) The independence of NCAs should be strengthened in order to ensure the effective and uniform application of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU. To this end, express provision should be made in national law to ensure that when applying Articles 101 and 102 TFEU NCAs are protected against external intervention or political pressure liable to jeopardise their independent assessment of matters coming before them. For that purpose, rules should be laid down in advance regarding the grounds for the dismissal of the members of the decision-making body of the NCAs in order to remove any reasonable doubt as to the impartiality of that body and its imperviousness to external factors. Moreover, to underpin their impartiality, the fines they impose should not be used to finance them directly.
Amendment 75 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 17
Recital 17
(17) NCAs should be able to prioritise their proceedings for the enforcement of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU to make effective use of their resources, and to allow them to focus on preventing and bringing to an end anti-competitive behaviour that distorts competition in the internal market. To this end, they should be able to reject complaints on the grounds that they are not a priority. This should be without prejudice to the power of NCAs to reject complaints on other grounds, such as lack of competence or to decide there are no grounds for action on their part. In case of rejection, the NCA should inform the complainant in due time with a justification. The power of NCAs to prioritise their enforcement proceedings is without prejudice to the right of a government of a Member State to issue general policy or priority guidelines to national competition authorities that are not related to specific proceedings for the enforcement of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU.
Amendment 80 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 18
Recital 18
(18) NCAs should have the necessary resources, in terms of staff, expertise, financial means and technical equipment, to ensure they can effectively perform their tasks when applying Articles 101 and 102 TFEU. In case their duties and powers under national law are extended, the resources that are necessary to perform those tasks should still be sufficient. The independence of NCAs should be enhanced with a clear budgetary autonomy in the implementation of the budgets allocated to them. This autonomy should be implemented in the framework of national budgetary rules and procedures.
Amendment 83 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 18
Recital 18
(18) NCAs should have the necessary resources, in terms of staff, expertise, financial means and technical and technological equipment, to ensure they can effectively perform their tasks when applying Articles 101 and 102 TFEU. In case their duties and powers under national law are extended, the resources that are necessary to perform those tasks should still be sufficient.
Amendment 84 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 21
Recital 21
(21) The investigative powers of national administrative competition authorities need to be adequate to meet the enforcement challenges of the digital environment and should enable national competition authorities to obtain all information in digital form, including data obtained forensically, related to the undertaking or association of undertakings which is subject to the investigative measure, irrespective of the medium on which it is stored, such as on laptops, mobile phones and, other mobile devices and cloud storage.
Amendment 97 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 32
Recital 32
(32) To ensure that the fines imposed for infringements of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU reflect the economic significance of the infringement, NCAs should take into account the gravity of the infringement. NCAs should also be able to set fines that are proportionate to the duration of the infringement. These factors should be assessed in accordance with the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union. In particular, as regards the assessment of the gravity of an infringement, the Court of Justice of the European Union has established that consideration must be given to the circumstances of the case, the context in which the infringement occurred and the deterrent effect of the fines. Factors that may form part of this assessment are the turnover for the goods and services in respect of which the infringement was committed and the size and economic power of the undertaking, as they reflect the influence the undertaking was able to exert on the market, such as whether it is a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) with limited market power. Moreover, the existence of repeated infringements by the same perpetrator shows its propensity to commit such infringements and is therefore a very significant indication of the gravity of the conduct in question and accordingly of the need to increase the level of the penalty to achieve effective deterrence. When determining the fine to be imposed, NCAs should consider the value of the undertaking’s sales of goods and services to which the infringement directly or indirectly relates. Similarly, NCAs should be entitled to increase the fine to be imposed on an undertaking or association of undertakings that continues the same, or commits a similar, infringement after the Commission or a national competition authority has taken a decision finding that the same undertaking or association of undertakings has infringed Articles 101 or 102 TFEU.
Amendment 141 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 4 – paragraph 2 – point e a (new)
Article 4 – paragraph 2 – point e a (new)
(ea) The leadership and the members of the decision-making body of national competition authorities are selected and appointed according to clear and transparent rules and procedures laid down in advance.
Amendment 145 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 1
Article 5 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall ensure that national competition authorities have the human, financial and technical resources that are necessary for the effective performance of their duties and exercise of their powers when applying Articles 101 and 102 TFEU as defined in paragraph 2. Without prejudice to national budgetary rules and procedures, Member States shall ensure that national competition authorities are granted independence in the application of the allocated budget.
Amendment 149 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 1
Article 5 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall ensure that national competition authorities have the human, financial, technical and technological resources that are necessary for the effective performance of their duties, including their consultative role, and exercise of their powers when applying Articles 101 and 102 TFEU as defined in paragraph 2.
Amendment 152 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Article 5 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Member States shall ensure that national competition authorities submit publicly available periodic reports on their activities to a governmental or parliamentary body. Member States shall ensure that such reports include information about the appointments and dismissals of members of the decision making body, the amount of resources that were allocated in the relevant year and any changes in this amount compared to previous years. Member States should also send these reports to the European Parliament.
Amendment 162 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 7 – paragraph 1
Article 7 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall ensure that if a reasonable suspicion exists that books or other records related to the business and to the subject matter of the inspection which may be relevant to prove a serious violation of Article 101 or Article 102 TFEU are being kept in any premises other than those referred to in Article 6, land or means or transport, including the homes of directors, managers, and other members of staff of undertakings and associations of undertakings, national administrative competition authorities may conduct unannounced inspections in such premises, land and means of transport.
Amendment 167 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 1
Article 8 – paragraph 1
Member States shall ensure that national administrative competition authorities may by decision require undertakings and associations of undertakings to provide all necessary information for the application of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU within a specifiedreasonable time limit. This obligation shall cover information (also including e-mails, instant messaging system messages) which is accessible to the undertaking and association of undertakings.
Amendment 172 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 1
Article 8 – paragraph 1
Member States shall ensure that national administrative competition authorities may by decision require undertakings and associations of undertakings to provide all necessary information for the application of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU within a specified time limit. This obligation shall cover information which is accessible to the undertaking and association of undertakings.
Amendment 174 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 9 – paragraph 1
Article 9 – paragraph 1
Member States shall ensure that where national competition authorities find that there is an infringement of Article 101 or 102 TFEU, they may by decision require the undertakings and associations of undertakings concerned to bring such infringement to an end. For that purpose, they may impose any behavioural or structural remedies which are proportionate to the infringement committed and necessary to bring the infringement effectively to an end. Structural remedies can only be imposed either where there is no equally effective behavioural remedy or where any equally effective behavioural remedy would be more burdensome for the undertaking concerned than the structural remedy.
Amendment 179 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 10 – paragraph 1
Article 10 – paragraph 1
Member States shall ensure that national administrative competition authorities acting on their own initiative may by decision order the imposition of interim measures on undertakings at least in cases where there is urgency due to the risk of serious and irreparable harm to competition and on the basis of a prima facie finding of an infringement of Article 101 or Article 102 TFEU. Such a decision shall apply either for a specific period of time and may be renewed in so far that is necessary and appropriate, with the possibility to be renewed, or until the final decision is taken.
Amendment 187 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 12 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
Article 12 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
2. Without prejudice to national laws of the Member States which provide for the imposition of sanctions in criminal judicial proceedings, Member States shall ensure that national administrative competition authorities may either impose by decision in administrative proceedings, or, request in non-criminal judicial proceedings the imposition of effective, proportionate and deterrent pecuniary fines on undertakings or associations of undertakings which are determined in proportion to their total worldwide turnover, where intentionally or negligently:
Amendment 190 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 12 – paragraph 2 – point d
Article 12 – paragraph 2 – point d
(d) they supply incorrect, incomplete or misleading information in response to a request made by a decision referred to byin Article 8 or do not supply information within the specified time-limit;
Amendment 197 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 13 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 2
Article 13 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 2
Where necessary to ensure the full payment of the fine, Member States shall ensure that national competition authorities are entitled to require the payment of the outstanding amount of the fine by any of the undertakings whose representatives were members of the decision-making bodies of the association. To the extent that it is still necessary, national competition authorities shall also be entitled to require the payment of the outstanding amount of the fine by any of the members of the association which were active on the market on which the infringement occurred. However, payment shall not be required from those members of the association that did not implement the infringement and either were not aware of it or have actively distanced themselves from it before the investigation started.
Amendment 212 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 14 – paragraph 2
Article 14 – paragraph 2
2. Where an infringement by an association of undertakings relates to the activities of its members, the maximum amount of the fine shall not be set at a level below 10 % of the sum of the total worldwide turnover of each member active on the market affected by the infringement of the association. However, the financial liability of each undertaking in respect of the payment of the fine shall not exceed the maximum amount set in accordance with paragraph 1. This should not prevent Member States from maintaining or introducing a higher maximum amount of the fine.
Amendment 242 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 22 – paragraph 1
Article 22 – paragraph 1
Member States shall ensure that current and former employees and directors of applicants for immunity from fines to competition authorities are protected from any criminal and administrative sanctions and from sanctions imposed in non- criminal judicial proceedings for their involvement in the secret cartel covered by the application, including in cross-border cases, if these employees and directors actively cooperate with the competition authorities concerned and the immunity application predates the start of the criminal proceedings.
Amendment 265 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 31 – paragraph 1
Article 31 – paragraph 1
The costs incurred by the Commission in connection with the maintenance and the development of the European Competition Network System and cooperation within the European Competition Network shall be borne by the general budget of the Union within the limit of the available appropriations.